Software and hardware often automatically configure themselves to function in almost any computing environment. Computing device systems and networks can therefore be set up and used by relatively unskilled users. Other computing device related tasks require specialized knowledge not readily available in a single source and may require a lengthy number of complex actions to accomplish the task. Such tasks include troubleshooting, performance analysis, and disaster recovery. For example, there are many problems when managing a large, complex software product. In particular, troubleshooting problems can be very involved and require much domain-specific knowledge. Troubleshooting is also difficult because it often requires pulling data from multiple sources (e.g., performance data, event log data, some data from a variety of files, data from the registry, etc.). Most tools designed to help troubleshoot know how to pull data and analyze data from only a few of these sources. A person wishing to troubleshoot often has to run multiple tools to collect all of the necessary information and learn to interpret all of the results because the results are provided in varying formats.
Unfortunately, many computer-system management tasks can be highly complex and difficult to automate fully. For example, to determine the cause of poor network performance, a user may be required to read a number of engineering specifications, decipher informational sheets from the various manufacturers, and collect data from files not readily accessible in the system itself. Once the user has analyzed the network and determined the cause of the problem, the user must consult additional information resources to determine what remedial measures to take. Another example of these complex tasks is performing disaster recovery on an email server to recover email after a hardware failure. This is computer-system specific and such issues are not only software focused, but require hardware information as well.
Another layer of difficulty with these complex tasks is that they can vary from one version of a computer system to another, and they may involve different types of logic depending on a particular customer's environment. These variables may not always all be known at the time a product is released. Also, disseminating such specific information to customers and support personnel can be a difficult process, even if adequate documentation has been provided.